BATON ROUGE, La. – After a long wait the No. 3 LSU softball team returned to the field and got a two-hit shutout from sophomore Carley Hoover and nine runs on nine hits in the first three innings to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes 9-0 in five innings in the team’s first game of the 2016 Tiger Classic.
The Tigers (1-0) exploded for five runs in the first inning alone, batting around in the inning to take a commanding lead early, while getting a gem on the mound from Hoover (1-0) as she held the Buckeyes (1-1) to just three hits with five strikeouts and a walk in the complete-game effort.
LSU got multi-hit outings from junior Sahvanna Jaquish, who went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Emily Griggs went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and a stolen base. Bianka Bell drove in two and earned a hit, drawing a walk with a run scored.
In their first games as Tigers, freshmen Amber Serrett and Shemiah Sanchez made the most of their starts as Serrett went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Sanchez went 1-for-2 with a double and RBI.
Bailey Landry got walked on four straight pitches, as Griggs followed up with a walk of her own to put two on for the Tigers. With a 2-1 count, Jaquish laced one to left, coming off the bat so fast that everyone held up to load the bases with no outs. Bell got plunked on the very next at-bat to bring in Landry to make it 1-0 LSU.
In a lengthy plate appearance, Kellsi Kloss ripped a single through the left side of the infield, easily scoring Griggs, but the shot raced through the defense so fast that it halted Jaquish in her tracks, resulting in her being put out at home for the first out. It didn’t deter the offense, as Simmons grounded out to second scoring Bell, Serrett singled scoring Kloss and Sanchez doubling to score Serrett to make it 5-0 Tigers.
With an out on the board, Griggs hit a chopping single through the middle to reach first. A single by Jaquish put two on, as Bell singled through the left side to score the LSU outfielder to give LSU a 6-0 lead over the Buckeyes.
Hoover ran into a small bit of trouble in the top of the third, as after a groundout, back-to-back singles put two runners on for the Buckeyes with just one out. Threatening, a slow roller back to the circle allowed Hoover to get out the lead runner at third, with Quinn picking up a grounder at second to end the inning and preserve the early shutout.
Serrett led off the top of the third inning with a single to right. A sacrifice bunt by Sanchez moved the freshman up to second for the first out. A fly out to deep right by Constance Quinn allowed Serrett to tag up to move to third, but with two outs it looked like she would be stranded just steps away from home plate, but not until a Landry infield single came through as she beat out the tag to score to make it 7-0.
Griggs reached on a hit, as Landry moved up to third to put runners at the corners. After Griggs stole second, it set the table for Jaquish as she laced a double to right scoring both to make it 9-0 LSU.
Looking to close out the game, LSU would need to use a little extra effort to close the door as after an infield hit, Hoover hit a batter to put two on. Fortunately, LSU was able to get the next three to go down in order to preserve the victory for the squad.
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